


when it rains

by nerducci



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Insomnia, M/M, Rain, that's basically it i literally don't know how to tag this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-02-08 14:56:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18625555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerducci/pseuds/nerducci
Summary: The rain is relentless, but comforting. It pelts against the window and hammers on the roof. Lying awake and listening to the rain is much nicer than lying awake and listening to the silence.Silence gives you room to think. To start worrying and to start questioning everything you thought you were sure of.But the rain is nice.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's 3am and i have no idea what this is or what i'm doing

The rain is relentless, but comforting. It pelts against the window and hammers on the roof. Lying awake and listening to the rain is much nicer than lying awake and listening to the silence. 

Silence gives you room to think. To start worrying and to start questioning everything you thought you were sure of.

But the rain is nice. Soothing. Even if the wind is a little spooky, whistling as it whips around the walls of the cabin. It's a little spooky, but it's still nicer than the silence. Silence can be creepy, which is somehow worse. It makes you feel alone. It makes you unsure, suddenly, of what you thought you knew. Small, insignificant noises are suddenly loud and real and scary. Creaking of wood, or an animal outside, or even your own quiet breathing - the silence amplifies it, makes it frightening, somehow. 

The rain and the wind blocks out the noises that could be scary. It gives you a rock, an anchor. A blanket to hide under. It covers the sound of footsteps outside that makes you wonder if you are perhaps not as alone as you thought you were. 

 

It covers the sound of somebody knocking on the door at some time past midnight. Or it tries to, at least. 

 

David holds his breath.

 

The rain is loud, and the wind is howling, and he isn't sure if he heard somebody knocking or if it was just his imagination.

 

The storm is loud, so it's hard to tell.

 

He tells himself he imagined it, because he really doesn't want to get out of bed to answer the door. If somebody _did_  knock, well, it's probably one of the campers. Maybe one of them woke up from a nightmare and came to the counselors' cabin in need of some comfort. It couldn't be anyone else, right? There _is_  no one else out here.

 

It doesn't matter. He probably just imagined it.

 

So he goes back to staring at the ceiling. But lying awake in a storm is a whole lot more unnerving when you're not sure whether or not somebody just knocked on the door. So he pulls the blanket tighter around himself and decides that, if someone did knock, they can go away. 

 

Because he's asleep, and he didn't hear it, of course. Not because he's too afraid to check and see if there's anyone at the door.

 

Whatever, whatever. He's overthinking it. It was probably just the wind being loud and making him _think_  he heard a knock. It wasn't exactly a _distinct_ sound. Just a vague 'somebody could be knocking at the door but also it might just be the storm' sort of noise.

 

The second knock _is_  distinct, and it makes David jump. Less than five minutes have passed since the first 'could be a knock but could be the wind' noise. This time, it's definitely not the wind. It's three clear, obvious knocks. A polite sort of knocking sound, perhaps the kind you'd expect to hear in a hotel before they announce that the room service person is here to clean your room.

 

David sits up, shaking his head slightly to rid himself of nonsensical thoughts about room service. It's late. He's tired, and he wants to lie awake and think about happy things. Well, actually, he wants to _sleep,_ but sleep doesn't come easily for him, and lying awake thinking about happy things is the next best thing. He wants to do that. He doesn't want to answer the door. 

 

But if it's a camper, and they need him to help them or comfort them, well... it's his duty. It's his responsibility. He can't shun his responsibilities just because the thought of answering the door at some late, spooky hour in the middle of a storm spooks him out a bit.

 

If Gwen was awake, she'd tell him that he's being silly, and that he needs to answer the door right now. 

 

Actually, she probably won't use the word 'silly', but that would be her general point. 

 

David stands up, and slowly walks over to the door.

On his way, he picks up a can of bug spray.

He feels stupid about it, and he really probably shouldn't feel the need to defend himself right now, and it isn't exactly pepper spray; but he also feels uneasy, and it's kind comforting, the thought that if somebody's here to attack him he can bug spray them in the face.

Why someone would be here to attack him, he has no clue, but when it's like two a.m. and the wind is literally howling, perspective is lost and suddenly things seem a lot bigger and scarier than they are. 

 

His left arm is numb from lying in a weird position, so he holds the bug spray in his right hand, feeling like a bit of an idiot.

 

"Who's there?" he asks quietly when he reaches the door. The only answer is the sound of the rain thundering against the roof.

 

Slowly he opens the door, still feeling like an idiot, because it's probably just a camper who had a nightmare, and- why is he feeling so uneasy, again? Why is he holding bug spray like it's the only thing that's going to keep him alive in this moment in time? Why is he being so- 

 

The person at the door isn't a camper. 

 

At first he's barely recognisable. David lifts the stupid bug spray can slightly. He starts to ask a question. "Who are-?"

 

And then he realises, and David drops the bug spray. It hits the floor with a metallic sort of thump and rolls across the floor in a half-hearted circle, eventually coming to a stop at David's foot. He bends down to pick it up, just in case, trying not to take his eyes off the person at the door. David opens his mouth to say something, anything, but he can't think what. In the end he shakes his head slightly. He speaks uncertainly. "Daniel?"

 

It wasn't supposed to sound like a question. He _knows_  that face. It's Daniel, of course it is. And yet David still sounded so unsure. It was supposed to be a statement, a greeting, even. Not a question. Not something so small and scared and completely devoid of confidence.

 

Not that it matters, of course. 

 

And Daniel hardly looks like himself, anyway. His clothes are wet and clinging to his skin, torn in places, muddy in others. A little blood, here and there. And his hair is soaked, too, so much so that it's slightly darker than usual, dripping, hanging in his face. He looks exhausted. There are dark circles under his eyes, and- his _eyes,_  they seem dull, lifeless, almost, like he's reached his limit and can't physically keep going. There's a distance in his eyes, like his mind isn't really here. 

 

"Sorry," Daniel says, slowly, as if speaking is taking a lot of effort that he'd rather not make. "I didn't know where else to go."

 

And with that, he stumbles forward, and collapses into David's arms. The bug spray falls to the floor again, and David stares at it as it rolls a little way away. 

 

David doesn't know what to do, or how to react, or what to even think. So he just stands in the doorway for a minute, Daniel slumped, unconscious, against him. Only when he realises that the rain is coming in and forming a small puddle on the floor does he realise that he should probably move. Or, at least, try to move, but it's a little difficult, because he's pretty much frozen in fear and confusion. 

 

_Okay, this is okay. This is going to be okay. Just... put Daniel down, and then shut the door. Okay._

 

Finally David manages to make himself move. He drags Daniel over to the bed and lays him down, and then goes to shut the door, grabbing a box of tissues from the desk and throwing some at the now wet and muddy floor in front of the door. Hopefully they'll soak up most the water. He can sort it out properly later, though. Right now, he needs to focus on making sure that Daniel isn't dead or dying.

 

Taking a few deep breaths to steady himself, David takes some clean towels from his drawer and goes to sit on the bed. His mind swims with questions.

 

 _What the hell is Daniel doing here?_  And why does he look so terrible? And why was he out in the storm in the first place, and-

 

David takes another deep breath.

 

It doesn't matter right now. Hopefully he'll be able to get some answers later - but right now, he needs to focus on making sure Daniel is okay.

 

So David carefully takes Daniel's drenched shirt off, and drapes a soft towel over him like a blanket. He uses another towel to gently dry Daniel's soaking hair. 

 

It's hard to get him fully dry, because the bedsheets are soaked now too, but David does his best. He knows that Daniel can't stay in soaking wet clothes, so he removes them and finds some clean dry clothes to change him into, hoping desperately that Daniel won't be mad that David undressed him. It's a little embarrassing, but it's better than Daniel getting hypothermia or something.

Once David's done, he's thoroughly exhausted, but at least Daniel is in warm, comfy clothes. Now he just has to change the bedsheets so Daniel has somewhere warm and dry to rest.

He's relieved to find that the water hasn't actually gone all the way through into the sheets, so he only needs to find a dry comforter and a blanket, and maybe a pillowcase too. 

David carefully lifts Daniel and moves him onto an armchair whilst he fixes the bed. And when he's done with that, he transfers Daniel back to the bed, pulling the covers over him, making sure he's warm. Throughout the whole process, Daniel doesn't stir. 

 

When he's finished getting Daniel sorted out, David turns to his own clothes. They're soaked now too, from the rain, or from carrying Daniel to the bed, or both. He dries off and changes quickly, before curling up on the armchair with a blanket. 

 

For once, sleep comes easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...to be continued?
> 
> ;))
> 
> plz go find me on the tumbler dot com i am nerducci there as well 
> 
> thank you for reading!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this chapter like a day after writing chapter 1 but forgot to post it oopsie

The rain is relentless, but the steady rhythm of it is nice. It doesn't stop all night, and now there's a soothing sort of familiarity to it. Outside, everything's dark. The sun hasn't yet risen. But even if it had, there would still be a darkness to the day. Gloomy grey storm clouds would hang heavy in the sky like a piñata at a party, blocking the sunlight out and replacing it with shadow.  
For now, though, they obscure the stars and the moon, keeping the night dark. And the storm is relentless, unstoppable.

Daniel wakes up in an unfamiliar bed, and immediately starts to panic. This can't be good.

_What the fuck happened last night?_

_What time is it? Where is he?_

And _God,_  he's tired. _Really_  tired. Jesus Christ. 

And this bed is so warm and comfortable, and he's even wearing nice soft pyjamas. He could just go back to sleep.

 _No,_  this is bad, this isn't good. _Where are his clothes?_

He forces himself to sit up, and then stand. As he does so, he realises that this room isn't as unfamiliar as he initially thought. He knows this place. Camp Campbell. But how did he end up here?

Whatever. He needs to find his clothes and get the hell away from this place.

It only takes him a second to locate his clothes. They're scrunched up in a ball on the floor. They're also soaking wet. Daniel curses under his breath and picks them up anyway. He can't exactly wear them, but he can fold them up, which is somehow the next best thing. He's just going to have to make do with these stupid green pyjamas for now.

_Shit, where's his knife?_

Crap.

Shit shit _shit._

His attention turns to the sound of soft breathing from across the room, coming from somebody sleeping on an armchair.

_David._

So it must have been David's bed that Daniel woke up in. Huh. He walks over to the armchair and watches the gentle rise and fall of David's chest. There's a blanket on the floor next to the chair, which he assumes was wrapped around David before it fell off onto the floor. Daniel laughs slightly. What an idiot.

Still, he picks the blanket up and drapes it over David's unconscious body.

Time seems to stand still, and all Daniel is aware of is the hammering of the rain outside. And how innocent and pure David's face is. His eyes are shut, lips parted slightly, hair falling in his face.

Daniel reaches out a hand to brush David's hair out of his face, then strokes his cheek gently. He really does look so sweet and innocent. _Such a shame,_ Daniel thinks to himself, and then speaks out loud, his voice gentle. "I'm going to have to kill you."

With a small smile, he makes his way over to a small chest of drawers. There has to be a knife in here somewhere, right? After rummaging through the top drawer for a while, Daniel manages to find a small flip knife. Probably something David confiscated from one of the campers. For their safety, and his own. Now Daniel's going to use it to take David's life. How ironic.  
  
Behind him, he hears David stir and make a confused sort of noise. _Crap._  He wanted this to be easy and quick, to kill David in his sleep and be done with it. But no, the stupid bitch had to go and wake up.

Well, never mind. He can still be quick about it.

"Daniel? What're you doing?"

David's voice is slurred slightly with sleepiness, and Daniel smiles slightly. How cute.

He turns and holds the knife up. "I'm going to kill you."

In the short seconds it takes Daniel to cross the room, David jumps to his feet and grabs something from the floor.

 _"Don't move!"_  David cries, and Daniel freezes, because David's pointing something at him and _is that a fucking gun?_

But he realises that it isn't a gun. It's a can of some sort of insect repellent. "Is... is that bug spray? Are you threatening me with bug spray?"

"I swear to God I will spray this in your eyes if you take another step," David says quickly, clearly trying to keep calm - but Daniel can tell that he's terrified, and it's adorable.

Smiling, Daniel flips the knife in his hand and takes a small step forward. "You're not making this easy for me. Just let me help you, David. It won't hurt." He pauses. "Much."

"Put. The knife. _Down."_

For reasons unbeknownst to him, Daniel finds himself wanting to do what David says. He doesn't, of course. But in his brief moment of hesitation, David whacks his arm, sending the knife flying.

"You bitch!" Daniel yells, and tries to punch him, but David catches both of his wrists, the stupid bug spray can falling to the floor in the process.

Daniel struggles, but David's grip is strong, and he wears himself out pretty quickly. "Let me _go,"_ he growls, trying to kick David's legs. It doesn't really work. He's exhausted, and fighting David is probably not a good idea given the state he's in.  
 _God, why did David have to wake up?_ Piece of _shit._

It doesn't matter now.

Daniel does the unthinkable, and gives up.

As soon as he does, he realises how _tired_  he is, and his body gives up too. His legs give out beneath him, and he collapses.

_Don't cry don't cry don't cry._

***

He must have passed out or something, because he wakes up on the bed again. Daniel sits up slowly. The past ten minutes are a blur.

Scratch that. The past forty eight hours are a blur.

"Are you okay?" somebody asks. Daniel looks up. He meets David's eyes, which are filled with concern, for some reason.

"Tired," Daniel says, because that's all he can think of. He's tired. He's tired, he's tired, he's so so so _so_ tired. He could sleep for three days straight. In fact, that's all he wants to do.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" David asks him, and Daniel nods. He feels like _crying._  Why does David even care? Why does Daniel care that he cares? David should be dead.

But he's not. He's here. And he's taking care of Daniel.

Even though Daniel just tried to kill him.

"I'm sorry I tried to kill you," Daniel whispers. He isn't really sorry, but in a way, he kind of is...?

_Ugh._

_Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid._

"It's okay," David says quietly, and Daniel almost laughs. It isn't okay. Of course it's not okay.

But, like, whatever. He's too tired to even think about anything right now. So instead of arguing or maybe strangling David to death or something, he just sits still and closes his eyes. He can kill David later. Whatever. Right now he needs to rest.

Some time passes, and they're just sitting there, silent, the rain hammering on the roof and filling the empty space between them.

"Do you want to go to sleep?" David asks quietly after a little while, and Daniel shrugs, and then shakes his head. He _does_  want to go to sleep, but that would make him _vulnerable._  He needs to stay alert. He needs to stay _awake._

He needs to _rest._

Shit.

It's another few minutes before David speaks again. His voice is quiet. "What happened to you?"

How the hell is he supposed to answer that? He doesn't fucking know. Heck, the last thing he remembers is knocking on David's door, two seconds away from passing out. Before that? Just... trees and rain and not much else.

"...Daniel?"

"I think I fucked up," he says softly, staring off into space. "I don't... I don't even know how I ended up here."

His voice doesn't sound right. He sounds tired and scared and confused and defeated. Everything that he _isn't._

But he is. He's all of those things. Mostly scared. He's _terrified._

"It's okay to be scared," David says, as if he read Daniel's mind. "But... whatever happened... you're safe now. So... try and get some sleep, okay? You look really tired."

Daniel laughs slightly, but there's no emotion behind it. Not really. "Okay."

***

The morning is barely lighter than the night was. It's still stormy, still raining. The  wind is still howling. It's the kind of morning when one might stay in bed, because it feels so much safer.

He wakes up to David's stupid face, and glares at him.

"Morning!" David says cheerfully, and Daniel glares some more. David apparently remains oblivious. "Do you remember anything yet?"

"No," Daniel says. The single word comes out on a sigh, making it sound somewhat more despondent than he'd intended.

"That's okay! I made you some hot chocolate."

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, he accepts the mug that's handed to him. There's cream on top, and probably milk, so he can't drink it, but it's a nice sentiment, he supposes. "Thanks," he mutters, and stares into the mug. He must have been asleep for several hours, but he still feels so tired. Not _tired_ tired. Like, existentially exhausted. Like all the energy has been drained from his body.

"Did you sleep well?" David asks him, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Yes."

"That's good, that's good."

There's a long, mildly uncomfortable silence.

"I have to go soon," David says. "Otherwise Gwen will come looking for me, and... she's probably freak out if... y'know. Do you think you'll be alright on your own for a while?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure? I can make up an excuse if you'd rather I stayed for-"

"It's fine."

"Okay. Okay, uh, I'll see you in a little bit, then? I can bring you something to eat."

"Thanks," Daniel says. He hands the mug back. "I can't have dairy."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Daniel almost laughs. David's such an _idiot,_  it's _funny._

But he's also _nice,_ and that's...

Yeah.

"I'll be back as soon as possible," David says, and heads for the door.

 _Don't get attached,_ Daniel tells himself as he watches David leave, because that's never good for anyone.

But David's nice, and that's... that's something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i barely proofread this so sorry if there are any dumb mistakes
> 
> also sorry for not posting anything recently i'm right in the middle of exams and i've not been confident in my writing recently but in like 3 weeks i'll be able to start updating stuff more frequently again 
> 
> also it's 2am i'm goin 2 sleep 
> 
> anywho thanks for readin and i hope u have a wonderful day !!


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